After the victory in Dongchang, the Ming army led by Sheng Yong had the heart of paralyzing the enemy from top to bottom, and all the soldiers were wearing splendid robes, and their bodies were full of captured gold and silver buckles, and they often boasted to each other: "After the capture of Beiping, we will have a banquet to drink and drink." ”

This time the army was defeated, and the Ming army threw things while running in order to escape for their lives, and the former trophies became the captured trophies of the enemy. King Yan returned to the camp after the battle, his face was covered with dust, and the generals could not recognize him, but after listening to his voice, he knew that he was King Yan, which showed how hard this battle was.

Due to the successive defeats, Emperor Jianwen was increasingly worried, and Emperor Jianwen sent Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng to recruit troops outside the Beijing Division. The Ming general Wu Jie set off from Zhending, originally wanted to join forces with Sheng Yong, but just walked out of eighty miles away, the news of Sheng Yong's defeat came, and Wu Jie hurriedly led the army to retreat to Zhending.

Yanwang Zhu Di is indeed good at knowing generals. He said: "If Wu Jie sticks to the infant city, it is the best policy; if he sends the army to return it immediately, it is the middle policy to avoid our army without fighting; if he comes to seek war, it is the next policy." I expect him to make a decision, and we will be able to defeat the enemy. ”

In order to lure Wu Jie's army to attack, King Yan ordered the sergeants to go out of the camp to search for food, but the limit of the number of miles should not be too far from the camp. At the same time, he sent a sergeant to disguise himself as a common man, and fled into Zhending City with a baby in his arms, and reported: "The Yan soldiers scattered out to look for food, and there was no defense in the camp. ”

Wu Jie really took the bait, he thought that the Yan soldiers had won a new victory, and their ambitions were arrogant, so they wanted to cover their unpreparedness with a light division, and led the army to set off from Zhending City, and the army arrived at the Hutuo River, seventy miles away from the Yan army.

King Yan was overjoyed when he heard that the army was out of the city, and it was evening, and Zhu Di urged the soldiers to cross the river. All the generals advised him to cross the river as soon as possible, but the king of Yan did not allow it: "The opportunity must not be lost, if it is delayed slightly, the enemy army will retreat to Zhending, the city will be strong and the food will be sufficient, and it will be difficult to attack him." ”

The cavalry of the Yan army crossed the river from the upper stream, the river was blocked, the lower river became shallow, and a large number of infantry of the Yan army also took the opportunity to rush over and wade across the river.

Due to the late night, fearing that the Ming army would escape, King Yan led dozens of horsemen to approach the enemy camp and spend the night, so that the Ming soldiers could see their appearance in order to contain the other party. Early the next morning, the Ming general Wu Jie and others lined up in the southwest, waiting for the soldiers.

Zhu Di, who was very experienced, saw Wu Jie's quadrangular formation, and said to the generals with a smile: "The phalanx is attacked on all sides, how can it win? I only need to concentrate my forces to attack one corner, and if one corner is defeated, the rest will naturally collapse." ”

So Zhu Di first sent soldiers to shout and feint on three sides, and personally supervised the elite troops to storm the northeast corner of Wu Jie's phalanx. Zhu Di, the king of Yan, used another trick to appear behind the enemy, and led a team of personnel to gallop along the bank of the Hutuo River, around the Ming army's formation, and then broke in, shouting and fighting. The arrows of the Ming army fell like rain, and on the banner raised by the guards of King Yan, there were as many arrows as the hair of a hedgehog. Despite this, many of the Yan soldiers were killed and wounded, but Zhu Di, the king of Yan, himself was not hit by an arrow.

The Ming general was safe in the middle of the formation to set up a lookout several feet high, ascending to look at the situation of the Yan army. Seeing the size of the banner of Ping'an, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, knew that this person was the courage of the Ming army, so he personally led his troops to rush to the lookout. Seeing Zhu Di coming with a gun and riding a horse, Ping An couldn't help but panic, and hurriedly jumped off the high platform and fled on horseback.

It just so happened that the wind suddenly blew, the house pulled out the tree, the Yan army rushed up in the wind, and Wu Jie's Ming army collapsed. It was really strange that in early summer, there was a strong wind, and the god of fate favored Zhu Di again at a critical moment. Zhu Di's soldiers were forced in all directions, the Ming army was beheaded more than 60,000 people, and Wu Jie and others led the remnants of the army to retreat to Zhending. So far, the battle of the Hutuo River is another great victory for King Yan.

After the Yan soldiers' victory, most of the counties in Hebei surrendered, and Shunde, Guangping, and Daimyo were all attached to Yan. Zhu Di sent a letter to Emperor Jianwen, asking the imperial court to recruit Wu Jie, Ping'an, Sheng Yong and other generals, and the warring sides each dismissed their troops.

Emperor Jianwen showed the letter of King Yan to his subordinates, and Fang Xiaoru came up with an idea and said: "Our army is still in the process of assembling, and the Yan army has been detained in the Daimyo for a long time, and it rains in summer and summer, and it is tired without a fight. Now it is time to urgently order the generals of Liaodong to enter the Shanhaiguan and attack Yongping, and the generals of Zhending should cross the Lugou Bridge and attack Beiping. The Yan army must be eager to return to defend the lair, and our army will follow them in pursuit, and it will be successful in one fell swoop. But in order to slow down his advance and make him proud, an edict should be issued to pardon his sins, so that their deployment will be weakened by the slackness of time. ”

So Emperor Jianwen sent Xue Shan, the Shaoqing of Dali, to enter the Yan camp with an edict to pardon the sins of the father and son of King Yan and the soldiers of the Yan army, and still restore his position as the king.

Xue Shan saw Zhu Di, Zhu Di asked Emperor Jianwen what he had to convey, Xue Shan said: "The emperor said, as long as His Royal Highness returns to the field as soon as possible, and comes to Jin to pay homage to the tomb of filial piety, the Ming army will return to the court in the evening." ”

Zhu Di was furious when he heard this: "Hmph! A three-year-old child can't be deceived by this kind of thing." ”

The soldiers of King Yan clamored in the tent and threatened to kill the imperial envoy. Zhu Di finished with a red face, and then acted as a white face: "The traitorous ministers are just a few people, and Xue Shan is the envoy of the Son of Heaven, so you can't act rashly." Then he took Xue Shan to watch in the camp, showing off his strength and showing his strength.

Before leaving, he said to Xue Shan: "You go back and thank the Son of Heaven for the old minister, but the traitorous minister is still there, the army has not yet returned, and the minister's soldiers are suspicious and refuse to disperse." I hope that the emperor will kill the traitors, disperse the soldiers of the world, and return the ministers and fathers to His Majesty alone, but His Majesty's orders will be obeyed. ”

What kind of person Zhu Di is, he doesn't eat soft and hard, and Jianwen Junchen has to find another way.

During the period when the Yan army was stationed in Daimyo, the Ming generals Wu Jie, Ping'an and others sent troops to cut off the transportation line of grain and grass in Beiping. Zhu Di sent 6,000 light cavalry to Xuzhou and Peixian to gallop to the area of Xuzhou and Peixian, disguised as the Southern Army, inserted willow branches as a code, shot through the defense of the Ming army, went straight to the granaries of Jining, and burned the grain storage of the Ming army. Then Zhu Di secretly sent troops to infiltrate Shahe and Peixian, burned tens of thousands of grain ships of the Ming army, countless military machinery were turned into ashes, and the river was hot. Since then, Texas has been cut off, and Beijing has been shocked.

Ming general Ping'an was not willing to be lonely in Zhending, ready to take the initiative to attack Beiping, he led the army to camp in Pingcun, fifty miles away from Beiping, often sent troops to harass Yan soldiers, Yan Shizi Zhu Gaochi sent an envoy to the king of Yan to report urgency. Zhu Di sent the general Liu Jiang to gallop back in the night, carrying dozens of artillery, and when he arrived outside the city, the huge cannon was fired, and the Yan soldiers in the city rushed out, and the two sides flanked, defeated the Ming general Ping'an, beheaded more than 1,000 soldiers, and the peace was really decided.

Fang Xiaoru made an idea to Emperor Jianwen against the father and son of King Yan: "Send envoys to Beiping secretly, and give Emperor Zhu Gaochi, the son of Yan, the imperial pen edict, if you return to the imperial court, you will be allowed to be the king." ”

Huang Yan, the eunuch in Beiping City, was at odds with Zhu Gaochi, and as soon as he saw the imperial court messenger coming, he immediately sent someone to report to King Yan: "The prince will rebel." ”

Zhu Di hesitated and asked another son, Zhu Gaoxu, for a plan, and Zhu Gaoxu replied: "The prince has a good relationship with Emperor Jianwen. ”

Several people were discussing how to get rid of the son who rebelled against his father, and Zhu Gaochi had already sent someone to send the tightly bound envoys of Emperor Jianwen and the unopened edict to Zhu Di's camp. Zhu Di, the king of Yan, was surprised and delighted, and after reading the letter, he sighed: "I almost killed my son by mistake." ”

The Ming general Sheng Yong ordered the Datong guard general Fang Zhao to lead troops into the Bauhinia Pass, invading the counties of Baoding, and garrisoning troops in Xishuizhai in Yi County. Xishuizhai is located in the middle of ten thousand mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, you can watch Beiping, waiting for the opportunity to move. When Zhu Di heard the news, he knew that Baoding was an important county, and if Baoding was lost, Beiping would be in danger, so the Yan army was in charge.

The Yan army crossed the Hutuo River, arrived at Wanxian, and increased troops to defend Baoding. On the march, Zhu Di also sent 30,000 elite cavalry to attack a large amount of food and salary sent by the Ming general Wu Jie to Fang Zhao, and besieged Xishui Village.

Wu Jie sent people to the rescue, and when he was about to arrive at Jinshuizhai, he was ambushed by the Yan soldiers, and was killed. In this battle, the Yan army beheaded more than 10,000 soldiers, and the Ming army fell off the cliff and died nearly 10,000 people. After the victory, the Yan army returned to Beiping.

Emperor Jianwen also sent Mei Yin, the loyal commander of the horses, to guard Huai'an, recruiting 400,000 troops, and garrisoning Huaishang to strangle the Yan army.

At this time, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, raised troops for three years, although he won many victories over the Ming army, but only Yongping, Daning, and Baoding were the lands he obtained, and he gave up after getting them, and many people died in battle. Although the Ming army was repeatedly defeated, the army was widely distributed, and there was news of victory from time to time.

The Ming army is a regular army with Zhengshuo, and it is justifiable, and in terms of the overall situation, Zhu Di does not have any advantage in this position. If the war drags on and on, the Yan soldiers are tired and the people's hearts are scattered, maybe a few generals will kill and chop off the heads of Zhu Di's father and son in order to gain wealth.

At the most critical juncture, the eunuchs in Emperor Jianwen's palace helped Zhu Di a lot. Because Emperor Jianwen defended his ministers very strictly, many eunuchs complained. Emperor Jianwen inherited the will of the old emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and strictly prevented eunuchs from interfering in politics, just as they were slaves for sprinkling and sweeping. At the same time, Emperor Jianwen severely punished the eunuch leaders who went out to blackmail in the name of the emperor, which made these guys who were neither men nor women full of resentment, and sent people to Zhu Di to show goodwill, telling King Yan the news of the emptiness of Jinling, and suggesting that the Yan army take advantage of the weakness to advance.

A few words woke up the dreamer, Zhu Di decided to go straight to Jinling, preparing to fight a decisive battle with Emperor Jianwen Linjiang, and fight to the death.

Zhu Di led his troops out of Beiping, the morale of the Yan army was high, first in the city of the Ming soldiers, beheaded 4,000, then broke Hengshui, Xiadong'a, trap Pei County, and in Zou County with 12 cavalry to break the Ming army's logistics soldiers of more than 3,000 people, directly besieged Xuzhou. The Ming soldiers of Xuzhou broke their courage and retreated in the city and did not dare to fight, and the Yan army bypassed Xuzhou and went to Suzhou.

The Yan army marched to the Huai River, and the Ming general Ping'an led an army of 40,000 soldiers to follow. After observing the terrain, Zhu Di judged: "There are many trees in the riverside area, and the enemy soldiers will suspect that our army has set up an ambush. ”

He personally led 20,000 elite soldiers, brought three days' food, and set up an ambush on the Huaihe River. Before leaving, he instructed the generals that once the Yan soldiers started a battle with the enemy, he immediately ordered the soldiers who had not been engaged in the battle to raise torches along the way to frighten the Ming army.

The peaceful Ming army was coming, and Zhu Di sent hundreds of Yan soldiers to meet him. When the Yan soldiers saw the Ming army, they pretended to panic, dropped a large number of bags that looked like golden silks, and then turned their horses and fled, in order to lure the Ming army into the ambush circle. The soldiers of the Ming army dismounted one after another, scrambling for the goods in the big bags, and when they opened them, they were all covered with rotten grass. In this way, the Ming army's cavalry array was chaotic, and between the uproar, it had entered the ambush circle of the Yan army.